Ismail Zayda, who lives in Gaza City in the north, told CNN that water supplies had been cut off for nine months.
"The municipalities are not working, and waste in large piles is on our doorsteps and on the roads," he said.
"We are seeing large quantities of flying insects for the first time… Frankly, we have insects that we see for the first time and we do not know their names, and they sting our bodies and the bodies of our children."
Human rights groups have repeatedly sounded the alarm over "
unspeakable" living conditions for Palestinians, as Israel's military campaign has pulverized neighborhoods, damaged health infrastructure and depleted food, water and fuel supplies.
In an assessment this week, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), stated that in Deir al Balah in central Gaza, where thousands of displaced are sheltering, families say that shelters are overcrowded. They have reported a range of health issues, such as hepatitis A, skin diseases, and respiratory illnesses and say that access to water is also critically low.
At one displacement site, the average amount of water available per day was less than one liter per person, well below the internationally recognized minimum requirement for survival of three litres per day, according to OCHA.
A safe water supply is essential not just for drinking and cooking, but to prevent the spread of disease.
OCHA reported this week that more than two-thirds of water and sanitation facilities and infrastructure in Gaza have been destroyed or damaged due to the conflict. It added many other facilities are out of service due to challenges including "insecurity, access impediments, and lack of power and fuel to operate generators."
The average high temperature in Gaza in the coming week is expected to be in the low 30 degrees celsius, with warmer weather likely to worsen what is already a crisis in sanitation.
Zayda spends much of the day wearing a mask, partly because some vehicles run on burned frying oil as an alternative to diesel, making breathing difficult.
"The roads are full of sewage running through the streets, waste and rubble from the bombing," he said.
The treatment of sewage amid damage to infrastructure and a lack of fuel has become an enduring problem in Gaza.
Carl Skau, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Programme, said after a tour of Gaza this week that a million people have been pushed out of Rafah and are now "trapped" in a "highly congested area along the beach in the burning summer heat."
"We drove through rivers of sewage," he said.
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